Jon Meacham: I'm a Presidential Historian. This Is My Biggest Regret About Trump.

[Nevilledog]

https://www.nytimes.com/2024/11/05/opinion/donald-trump-regret.html

No paywall link
https://archive.li/Na9FA

I thought I knew what we were dealing with. When Donald Trump began his rise to power in 2015, he struck me as a dangerous but recognizable demagogue. As a biographer of presidents, I tend to think historically and seek analogies from the past to shed light on the present. And so, for years Mr. Trump’s marshaling of fear, prejudice, resentment, xenophobia and extremism put me in mind of grievance-driven figures ranging from Huey Long to Joseph McCarthy to George Wallace. To me, Mr. Trump was a difference not of kind (we had long contended with illiberalism in America) but of degree (since the Civil War, no figure with such illiberal views had ever actually won the White House).

Then he proved me wrong. His concerted efforts to overthrow the November 2020 election very nearly succeeded — tangible proof that he is in fact willing to follow through on the authoritarian threats he so freely makes. I now see him as a genuine aberration in our history — a man whose contempt for constitutional democracy makes him a unique threat to the nation.

I say this not as a Democrat, which I am not. I first encountered the drama of American politics through a childhood interest in Ronald Reagan, whose public grace struck a chord within me. (At 10, I was not very astute about the implications of supply-side economics.) I became the biographer of George H.W. Bush. I have voted for both Republican and Democratic nominees for president and down the ballot. And I have spent much of my adult life studying and writing about the office that John Kennedy called “the vital center of action.”

Analogies thus come naturally to me. Yet more and more, I fear that trying to find historical precedents for Mr. Trump presents dangers of its own. No similar figure in American history has ever had such a strong grip on so many. To suggest otherwise diminishes the sense of urgency the moment requires.

*snip*

[lame54]

1. That he was president

[kentuck]

2. In the end, it is up to democracy to save democracy.

Only the process of voting can save it.

[Skittles]

3. it's not really democracy when the "loser" can receive millions more votes

no indeed

[NoRethugFriends]

4. Ronald Reagan's public Grace? give me a break

[tinrobot]

7. To be fair, graceful to a then 10-year old.

Unfortunately, a lot of adults act like 10 year olds when it comes to politics.

[Trish6521]

5. Viewing him as an aberration is a mistake

He was a symptom of bigger systemic problems (oligarchy, wealth inequality, corporate media caring more about profits than informing us, an out of touch punditry, pollsters who can be bought and influenced, social media algorithms that shape/distort our views, buyable corrupt politicians and the act of running for office as a marketing exercise).

The right wing echo chamber certainly has a lion’s share of blame here, but there’s so much more. We know Epstein and Diddy were blackmailing people to influence media, politics and Lord knows what else. How much influence is wielded this way? How many were willing to use Trump as a means to an end? (Not just politicians, but religious leaders, CEOs, other billionaires, other world leaders and dictators).

To view Trump as an aberration is to not fix all these issues so that another version of him can come along.

[yardwork]

6. A person who admired Reagan would view Trump as an aberration.

The rest of us view him as a logical extension of Reaganism.

[artemisia1]

8. At least he's not young. If he were 60 we would be staring a repeat of Mussolini... /nt

[Solly Mack]

9. Well